In Which There are a Couple of Finished Things

Over the weekend, I finished a couple of things.

I washed up the finished sampling of Wensleydale, resulting in the wee little skein here:

It has a definite lustre to it, and is quite pleasant to the touch despite it's sturdy characteristics. I was trying to spin the singles a bit thicker, but despite my best efforts to produce a light fingering will have to declare this one a laceweight. I think a three-ply version of this would be lovely for the mittens in my imagination, so I'll be keeping that in mind for a future shopping trip where I see Wensleydale available. Some day when I get around to swatching this, I'll post photos of that as well.

I also finished the Byatt by Karie Westermann. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, despite the low yardage from the burgundy-coloured yarn I had in the stash that resulted in less of the stripey section. I was a bit concerned that the extra repeats of the lace section would look out of balance, but judging from this version and from several other versions I've seen in Karie's Ravelry group, the shawl adapts nicely to varying sets of repeats. I particularly like the version that used an additional shade of purple for the later repeats of the stripey section! 

My kids have been borrowing the shawl for a blanket, and I currently have it draped over the back of my chesterfield. I wore it a lot yesterday morning before the house warmed up, and it really did the trick!

In Which I Mostly Post Many Spinning-Related Photos

In all the excitement of having a new pattern out in Knit Now Magazine, I forgot to tell you about my shopping trip to A Curious Spin.

I picked up a new spindle, as I'd been looking to get a bigger one for plying, in the hopes that the silk/merino blend shown here with the second batch of singles nearly finished

would perhaps fit all together on the one spindle when plied. Now that I've finished spinning the singles, I'm giving it a go on the new one:

I also treated myself to some Gotland

and to a Curious Spinner's Woolly Pack, which is such a great idea. You get to pick two to four different breeds of sheep from a good variety, and end up with 56g total. The whole idea is to sample a few things to see what you like, so that if you really enjoy a particular variety, you can plan to buy more for a project in future, and if you're not so keen on something, you haven't invested much time and money into it. This is a very fun way to explore breeds you've only otherwise read about, and saves you the trouble of deciding on trying only one.

As you can see, I picked four: Wensleydale, Romney, Masham, and Polworth.






I've started with the Wensleydale, and am rather liking it so far. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like plied and washed, and must set aside some swatching time so I can figure out if there's a particular project I'd like to use it for in future. I'm getting a bit tired of darning mittens, so I'm tempted to try something in the way of a sturdy longwool for an outer mitten, and maybe something fluffier for an inner mitten.






















Of course, having freed up a spindle, I started something else right away. I pulled out my Vancouver souvenir of silk top, and started with the blue. I've been dying to try this out, but was waiting to improve my skills a bit first. I'm glad I've spent a bit of time with long-wools, as the Leicester was actually great practice for this stuff.

















The saturated colour is almost startling, and the shine makes this stuff just plain magic.

Finishing off with a quick Byatt shawl update, I ran out of the main colour before I could finish the second repeat of the striped chart. I had a wee bit left, but while it was close to being enough for two more rows, it was nowhere near enough for the four more that I would have needed, so I just stopped that chart a bit early.

I have plenty of the gold colour though, so am currently contemplating extra repeats of the lace chart. Perhaps two more for five in total, as it feels that an odd number would balance best, but I'll complete the fourth one first before deciding. So very close to finishing now! I have a lot of math to work on this week, but hopefully I can squeeze in a bit of time to finish this up!



A Shop, a Play, a Giveaway, a Spin, and a Knit

First off, things that are happening in Edmonton this weekend (including Friday):

-A Curious Spin is holding a Pop-Up shop! I'm going, just not sure yet whether Friday or Saturday. Pop-up hours this weekend for Friday and Saturday are 10 am to 8 pm.

-Heather Morrow's The Ugly Princess is being performed on Friday night, 7pm, La Cité Francophone, 8627-91st Street. I'm definitely going to that; one night only, so get your tickets!

Then, things that are happening this weekend online:

-By the Fibreside is still trying to give away a copy of the Knit Picks 2015 Fair Isle Collection in which I have a pattern (long story short; the mechanics of Facebook made this giveaway difficult instead of easy. Listen to the podcast for full explanation.), and the new way to get yourself entered in the draw is to scroll down a wee bit and comment on the post about the 2015 Fair Isle Collection at the By the Fibreside Facebook page right here: linky. The draw is on February 28th! Please also click Like on By the Fibreside, since that was the original plan for entering in the draw.

Now, for things happening at my house just now (other than work that I can't write about yet):

I finally finished the Rainbow Leicester Locks spinning project.

Check out my yarn (it's in the process of drying after it's bath):

In many spots, it's smooth like silk, and then others it's as fuzzy as anything. Not sure if that's just how it goes with Leicester, or whether there's a way to keep it more consistently smooth. I'm sure I could make it more consistently fuzzy if I tried through. Still, it's not feeling as rough as I thought it was before.

Not at all sure what on earth to make with it, but am taking suggestions (your cue here to suggest away in the comments, don't be shy now). Of course, not sure yet how much I have, but it's more than I thought there would be in the end.

Must get going to get stuff done (it's Teacher's convention the next two days, so I have to get anything done that I want done in the next hour), but before I sign off, here's my current progress on the Byatt shawl:

I'm definitely not going to have enough yarn for a third repeat of Chart B, but am really, really, really hoping to get through the second repeat without running out...

Knackered

This post is rather a lot later than I meant to post it this week, but it took until today to recover from the long weekend.

Friday we went to IKEA to get a few things to organize the kids' craft area (it's a start, anyhow), and I had a soccer game later that day.

Saturday, soccer tournament (two games), Sunday, one more game for the tournament, and a lovely dinner with the family. We all played Rockband together and stayed up late, which was all very fun.

Monday the kids went skating with my husband's family while he took me out for lunch, then we all had dinner together, which was lovely. I also worked on sending out a submission and going over the final proof of another pattern that will be published soonish.

Tuesday, which was not the weekend, but is worth mentioning because it was exhausting, I coordinated the pancake lunch at the school, which basically gave me an hour off before it was time to pick up the kids at school and take them to their swimming lesson. Luckily my husband finished early and drove us all there, so I wasn't having to expend quite as much energy there!

Yesterday, I looked at my list of things to do, decided not to do them, and couldn't even muster the energy to relax properly (knit, spin, watch a show, etc.). I should have taken a nap, but didn't. I got extra sleep last night, and today I'm back to normal, so I'm getting a few things done.

In the meantime, here's what little spinning and knitting I have been up to over the last while:

Continuing on the Silk/Merino singles,

starting to ply the Rainbow Leicester, so here's the plying ball

and I made it to where the Contrasting Colour gets added to the Byatt Shawl. Very happy with my colours and with the pattern!

Hoping I'll have enough yarn of the main colour for the shawl! Also hoping I'll have enough time to knit far enough along to answer that question by early next week, but we'll see how things go. After all, this weekend looks busy too.

About Time I Use That Yarn...

OK, so I gave in and started the shawl I mentioned last post (Byatt by Karie Westermann), and am really glad I did. This is particularly true as I'm fighting whatever cold it is that my kids have, and I'm not sure I'm winning, so a bit of knitting that starts out as relaxing comfort knitting and moves into more complex stuff well before you are tired of the plainer bit seems just right for this week.

Also, I'm using yarn I bought in Vancouver about five years ago, and some yarn I bought in Edmonton around the same time period. Both have been swatched or started on projects in the past, but I've pulled them back and set them aside because they weren't quite right. I wanted something special for both these yarns, so, when I was inspired by Byatt to try them together, it all fell into place!

Here's where I'm at so far:

My plans for this evening are to find my Pyjamas and a cozy blanket and knit a few more rows before bedtime. Could only be more perfect with a cup of tea on this chilly evening!

First, Giveaway Details, Second, Much Cuteness

First off: Vanessa from By the Fibreside is offering a giveaway of the Knit Picks 2015 Fair Isle Collection e-book (you know, the one in which my Firth Waves Cushion is included)! For a closer look at the wearables from the collection, here's a great blog post from Knit Picks. This is a link to the By the Fibreside Podcast, and here's a link to the Facebook Page and the Ravelry Group.

If you've any interest in spinning, knitting or weaving, I'm sure you'll enjoy By the Fibreside. I get some spinning done while I listen to it, as it always gets me excited about spinning. It's also convinced me to make sure I head out for at least a day trip to Olds Fibre Week this year!






Second: I finally finished my second shawl knit from my handspun. "Shawl" is overstating it, really, as it's more of a scarf. I had nowhere near as much pink as I needed, but I used leftovers from the first of my handspun shawls to stretch it out. A rectangle is what my youngest wanted from her share of the first bits of roving I picked up to spin (she picked the Candy Pink fluff), and stripes were readily agreed upon.

She has declared it perfect, and that she is going to wear it every day to school.

Photo shoots with kids require lots of photos to get just a couple of shots that are not too blurry, too silly, too posed, or hiding the knit object too much. It's still a lot of fun, and I don't mind including a few of the silly ones here so I can share the cuteness:

In Which I go Shopping and Finish up a Shawl.

The other day, I did a bit of shopping. A local fibre and yarn business, Flannelberry Creek, held a pop-up shop too near to me to pass up a visit, except I was still having trouble deciding whether or not to go, having just recently enlarged my stash courtesy River City Yarns. Of course, I had heard, on the By the Fibreside podcast, about the Flannelberry Creek Custom Batt Bar, and, at Tuesday night knitting, Vanessa from By the Fibreside quite rightly encouraged me to make the visit, and I was completely convinced.

I'm also quite convinced that even if I had never tried spinning, I would have wanted to buy a custom batt. It was like an ice-cream sundae bar where you can pick the flavours (corriedale, in a wide variety of colours, in my case, oranges, cream, and a touch of browny-grey for depth) and the sprinkles (a variety of add-in fibres, such as silk, bamboo, sea-cell, milk, angelina, and probably other things I forgot. I picked milk and golden angelina).

I'm so very pleased with my new batt. I've named it Creamsicle, and bring it out to pet now and again, but will have to finish a few major projects before I can give it a whirl. Carrot might also be an apt name for that reason!

On the finishing front, I do have something else completed at least! I finished my daughter's Citron shawl that I have knit up from my handspun. She has been wearing it a fair bit; I had to steal it back to weave in the last end, and wait until she was at school to actually block it. Now to start on one for my younger daughter! I have the yarn plied, washed, and waiting for its turn in the queue.

Handspun

I have more designing on the go, but I still need something to work on in my downtime, and that includes not-in-a-hurry knitting like the Citron shawl I'm making from my cotton-candy-coloured handspun Corridale singles.

It also includes some sewing planning (nothing like "I'm going on a trip and I think I need a new purse" to try and talk me into sudden last-minute projects; but I think I should pack first before I decide if I have time)...

...and also some spinning!

Having finished spinning the Sapphire Heather singles, I wound them into a plying ball. I didn't think of that last time, but I was poking around spinning forums where it came up, and boy is it ever a good idea! I wanted to do a three-ply yarn this time, and so I started with a cotton ball to wind things around, and held three singles together and wound them on. Using cotton balls has been an excellent way to wind balls of singles and to wind the plying ball! They wind on to it so nicely, and it doesn't add much weight at all, but provides a good base to get a start with.





I then plied them in two batches (maybe I need a bigger spindle for plying so I can do them in one?), and, though I now suspect I perhaps should have added a little more twist to the ply, I think I ended up with some pretty nice looking yarn. You know, once it was skeined and washed, that is.

Of course these are sitting on display where I can look at them every day now! I have a few ideas for what to do with the yarn, but I'll let you know when I start on something with it.

In the meantime, I'm keeping up the spinning with my next batch of yarn in Tidepool Heather (again from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Roving).

I love the way the little strands of golden yellow play with the greens and blues in this. I'm working on a more consistent single, but not expecting to get there anytime soon. I'm just glad that it gets that little wee bit better with every bit of practice, and that I'm enjoying the practice. Hard not to enjoy when something so lovely is the result!

Presenting the Starlet Stole

I'm pleased to say that Knit Picks has just added the Starlet Stole that I designed to their Independent Designers Program!

It has been a lot of work getting this one ready, but it has been well worth it, and the pattern can be purchased for $2.99 USD here at Knit Picks.


This knitted stole features both cables and lace, with lace eyelets forming both the borders between cable panels and the background behind the main cable panel. The interplay between dense cables and airy eyelets is highlighted by the lovely drape and shine of the yarn.

Knit in Knit Picks Galileo, which is a bamboo/merino blend, it feels great both to knit with and to wear.

I used up every bit of the six balls of yarn. The Galileo responds well to blocking. In all seriousness, I had "Whip it Good" stuck in my head as I stretched and pinned this one out to full size!

I had been interested in exploring what would happen if I used eyelets not just between cable patterns, but also instead of purl stitches in the background of a trellised cable pattern, which is something I haven't seen done very often. The Starlet Stole is the result, and I am well-pleased.

Getting used to moving the eyelets around while simultaneously moving the cables across them was a bit tricky for the first repeat. However, it did become an established skill as I worked on the sample, becoming easier to keep track of the pattern as I gradually memorized it. I say this to point out that it's a wee bit tricky to get this one started, but to reassure you that it does get easier once you've gotten into it.

I would like to thank Stacey at Knit Picks for her work with the IDP program. I am very thankful to all the ladies who took the time to give me feedback, cast on the stole, or look over the pattern for me: Steph, Rachel, Kahlie, Shannon, Cailín, and especially Sigrun.

Thank-you also to my family for their patience with me while I worked obsessively on the sample, and to my youngest for her umm, "assistance" during the photo shoot (but especially her patience in waiting for her turn to be in the photos). I must say, she is a darling!